Sarah's Story
by creativedreamer48
Summary: A poker game for tickets. Tickets for the greatest ship on earth. And now, the largest unsinkable thing on the sea was sailing and we could get on if Jack played his cards right. Please don't screw up, Jack.
1. Poker

1

I watched my brother and the men surrounding him. A poker game for tickets. Tickets for the greatest ship on earth. Now that me and Jack had been in Europe for so long, we decided it was high time to go back to America. And now, the largest unsinkable thing on the sea was sailing and we could get on if my brother played his cards right. Please don't screw up, Jack.

"Hello, darling. How old are you?"

I looked up to see an old drunk standing in front of me. He had a heavy Irish accent and the alcohol made his breath smell awful. "None of your concern, I assure you, mate." I answered, turning to look at my brother again.

Suddenly I felt an old hand on my wrist, and looked to see the drunk had grasped it and was pulling me. He jerked me up and out of my seat and whispered in my ear. "It is my concern." He said. His hot breath upon my neck made my flesh crawl.

I tried to free myself and struggled against his drunken grip. "Let go of me!" I screamed.

"Full house!" I heard my brother shout. I turned to see my brother and Fabrizio jump up and celebrate. Trust me, I would have been dancing and singing along if I wasn't being kidnapped by a drunk man, but I was and right now it was a problem.

"Jack! If you're not too occupied, I could use some assistance!" I cried, struggling to free myself again. My brother turned and jumped over a table to punch the man who had me held, then grabbed my hand and ran out of the pub with me close in tow. The ship was leaving in five minutes. All three of us ran like the wind, crashing into things and people along the way. I pumped my legs harder to keep up with my brother. But I didn't see a stray suitcase and tripped over the blasted thing. My hand slipped out of Jack's and fell on the hard ground.

"Oh, my dear, are you alright?" I looked up to see a kind looking man, who had a white beard and a top hat on. His suit was a very nice black tuxedo.

"Oh, yes sir, but I'm afraid me and my brother have been separated," I said, doing my best to sound innocent and close to tears. "He has my ticket, and our parents are in America and I wish to see them, but I'm afraid me and him won't make it, if I can't get on..." I made myself cry.

"Oh, my darling. Tell that man over there that you're with Mister Higgins. He'll let you on, and then you can find your brother." the man said. That was easy.

"Oh, thank you, sir. God bless." I said, smiling. I knew Jack had been watching, and he and Fabrizio laughed and got on the boat. I ran to where the man had told me and told the man there, "I'm with Mister Higgins." The man let me on.

I rushed up to deck as Jack and Fabrizio arrived. I stood behind the rail, waving to all the people below. Jack stood behind me and waved too. I don't know why we did it, but we did. Maybe to feel like we belonged.

The three of us made our way to our rooms. We were in third class, bottom of the ship. I rushed in and immediately hopped on the top bunk. "Hey! I wanted top bunk!" Jack exclaimed, reaching over the bars and began to tickle me.

"First come...first serve!" I gasped through my giggles. I'm extremely ticklish and Jack knew it.

"Fine." he said, smiling. I smiled back. "Want to go see the deck?" he asked.

"Is this a trap to get me out of the bed?" I asked, sitting up.

"No." he said. I got down and as soon as my feet touched the floor he picked me up and dropped me away from the bed and he climbed on.

"Liar!" I shouted. Jack laughed and climbed down from the bunk.

"Come on, let's go." he said. Fabrizio followed us as we walked down the hall. I don't think any of us paid attention to the two other men in our room.

Up on deck was a kind relief from the dank third class. I closed my eyes and leaned over the railing slightly. The tart sea air blew my hair back and felt good on my face. "Be careful, lassie. You'll fall over into the water."

I jerked my head to the side to see a tall man standing there with curly hair and a stubble of beard on his chin. He was smiling. "And what makes you such an expert?" I said, straightening myself and standing back from the rail.

"Common sense." he said. "My name's Tommy." He held out his hand.

"My name's Sarah. Sarah Dawson." I shook his hand.

"You here with your parents?" he asked.

"My brother. Him and our friend. They're over there." I told him, pointing to where Jack and Fabrizio were sitting. Jack was drawing.

"Do you think they'd like to meet me?" Thomas asked.

"Let me check; JACK! DO YOU WANT TO MEET SOMEONE NEW?" I shouted to him. My brother looked up and walked over to where me and Tommy were standing. "Jack, Tommy. Tommy, Jack." I introduced them.

"Nice to meet you." Jack said, shaking Tommy's hand.

"Well, now that we're all introduced, I'll leave you two alone and go see the rest of the ship." I said, prancing over to another part of the rail. But I soon got bored of that and decided to go explore the rooms. The first class was really nice. Even the hallway. The third class hallway was small and cramped and dirty and narrow and uncomfortable and not at all like first class. The first class hallway was white and clean and had a lovely carpet running down it and the doors of the rooms were white and gold and I wished that I could be here instead of on the bottom floor. I was lucky enough to see inside a room when I peeked inside an open door. The room was furnished with dark wood and the furniture was beautifully decorated and furnished. But I was shortly shut out by the tenants of the room. They shouldn't have left their door open.

After that I decided to hunt around the ship. I took the elevator up and down several times, but I guess the driver got tired of me and told me to get off. I did, but didn't mind as much as I thought I would because now I was at the grand staircase. It was a grand, golden thing, that curved outward and had statues and decorations and it didn't seem like it was possible for something so amazing to be on a ship. Now I truly believed this was God's ship.

I tried to get into the dining room, well, more like a banquet hall. I could see the first class eating fine food and talking. I wished I could be one of them. After arguing with the man at the door about letting me in I decided that I should go look around the ship for any other fourteen-year-old children. But, as soon as I walked up the grand staircase, I knew that I had to walk back down as an elegant young lady because I would never actually be able to. Holding my skirt I began to descend the stairs. When I was close to the bottom, I held out my hand for an imaginary suitor.

But as I closed my eyes to imagine my dress, my outreached hand was grasped gently. I gasped and opened my eyes to see a young man holding my hand and smiling softly. He was just about the most handsome boy I had ever seen. He had wheat-gold hair and quiet brown eyes. He was tall and had broad shoulders and a good build. His face was kind and strong at the same time. He nodded at me, then turned, bringing my hand with him, and I stepped off the stairs. Then he put his hand on my waist and took my hand in his. Then we slowly started turning, and I realized we were dancing. I knew that many people were looking at us, wondering why a first class and a third class were dancing, but I didn't care. At that moment it was just us. Only us.

Eventually we stopped, and he bowed to me, and I curtsied as best I could. He took my hand in his and kissed it lightly. "What is your name?" he asked.

"Sarah." I said breathlessly.

"Mark. I hope to see you again, Sarah." he said, smiling. Then he turned and walked away. I watched him for as long as I could, then ran up on deck and felt the sea air again. Mark. I would remember that face for a long time. I felt like I could fly, and I climbed onto the top of the rail, and held out my arms, while holding onto a nearby pole.

"Be careful." a voice said, startling me. My footing slipped and I fell back, only to be caught by two strong arms. I looked up into the eyes of another boy. He had shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes that stood out from his tan face. He was handsome, but not like Mark. He was a different type of handsome. He was third-class, for one thing, and he was rather skinny and lanky. He put me down and I turned to look at me.

"I told you to be careful." he smiled.

"Yes, but if you had not said anything, then I would not have been startled, so I would not have lost my footing and slipped." I replied.

"My name's Andrew." he said, holding out his hand. I took it and shook it.

"Sarah Dawson at your service." I said.

"It's good to meet another child on this ship." he said.

"Yes, it is." I replied.

"Sarah!" Jack's voice startled me. I turned to see Jack calling me from not too far off.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to my brother." I said, grabbing Andrew's hand and pulling him to where Jack, Tommy and Fabrizio were. "This is Andrew." I said, "That's Jack, Fabrizio and Tommy."

"Hi," Jack greeted. Andrew smiled and nodded in reply. Then I saw Jack look up at something on a higher deck. I followed his eyes to see a pretty young red haired women who was in first class. She looked sad and stared out at the ocean. Then a young man came and told her quite forcefully to come inside. She walked in ahead of him. I looked back at Jack and knew exactly what he was thinking.

I smiled and shook my head, "Keep dreaming, Jackie."


	2. Flying

Oh, thank you so much Megz2009 and bunny94 for your reviews. Reviews inspire me. Megz, I'll probably have some sort of chapter where Sarah thinks about her life. So yeah, if you have any suggestions how and when to do it I would love to hear it! Thanks! Okay, 2nd chapter of Sarah's Story! Enjoy! ;P

2

I stared up at the many stars dotting the cold night sky. Jack was next to me on the bench we were laid out on. "I can't believe we're on a ship. A real ship, Jack! Can you believe it?" I exclaimed in spite of myself.

"Yep." Jack replied. I looked over to him and seeing his face, I could tell he had something else on his mind. I propped myself up and looked at my brother.

"Whatcha thinking, Jack?" I asked.

He smiled and looked at me. "Nothing."

"Bullshit." I said, waiting for his response.

"Watch your mouth!" He said, pointing at me.

"Well, tell me what you're thinking!" I said to him again, tilting my head.

But as he was opening his mouth a red blur ran by us. Well, a woman in a red dress, and I think it was the woman that Jack was looking at this morning. Jack sat up, then looked at me. "Go!" I said, gesturing towards her. He smiled at me, then got up to follow her. I sighed then laid back down and closed my eyes. I opened them a few seconds later to be looking up at Andrew's face. "AAAHHH!" I screamed and sat up, bumping foreheads with Andrew on the way.

"Ow!" I groaned, now rubbing my bruised head. I turned to look at him. "You really have to learn a better way to tell people that you're there."

"Sorry." He smiled, rubbing his forehead. "Where's your brother?"

"I don't know. He followed some girl." I answered, getting off the bench and standing up.

"For reasons children under thirteen shouldn't know about?" he teased.

"Hell, no. She was running, Jack followed her."

"Alright, whatever you say..." Andrew smiled.

I rolled my eyes, then walked to the rail and watched the water that seemed to go on for miles. "What would you do if you could fly?" I asked, eyes still gazing at the horizon.

"Excuse me?" Andrew asked, smiling, and joining me at the rail.

"What would you do if you could fly?" I repeated, turning my head to look at him.

"I don't know. Perhaps fly to a better place. Fly across this ocean to America. And stay there." He finally replied, eyes glowing. He looked so happy, and I didn't want to break the dream trance. But I guess he knew that's all it was, a dream, and broke the trance himself. He looked at me. "What about you? What would you do I you could fly?"

"I think...I would fly over this ocean. Fly over and beyond it, until I found something better than Europe, better than America. Maybe into another world. Somewhere where problems could never reach me. Where I could be at peace. And then I could be with my mom and dad again. Maybe Jack could be there too. And everything would be like it was before we left America and went to Europe. When we still had mom and dad." I knew I was rambling, but Andrew was listening. I wasn't talking about flying anymore. No, now I was remembering. I was remembering my parents, the good times before they died. Their laughs, their smiles, how they hugged me and told me I was safe. And then I was remembering their deaths. How they were taken away so suddenly. Stolen from us, me and Jack. We lost them to Death, and I remembered how I cried that night, and Jack hugged me and held me. But he couldn't tell me I was safe, couldn't tell me it was alright, because he was crying too. I remembered their funeral. We stood in the graveyard. I was eight and Jack was twelve. They were going to send us to an orphanage. Jack told them that he could take care of me. We ran away two nights later, stowed away on a boat going to Europe. We grew up there. And now, six years later, we were returning. I would go to the cemetery when we got back, and say sorry to mom and dad for leaving them.

All these things played over in my head. It was too much, and it felt like a lifetime even though it was only a few moments while I was thinking all this. Before I knew it, I felt tears welling in my eyes, and felt the hot, salty water fall down my cheeks. I hurriedly wiped them away, but felt new ones coming as I wiped the first ones away. "I'm fine." I said, my voice cracking. I saw Andrew straighten up, worried about me. But I wasn't fine, and Andrew knew it. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and brought me into a hug. I leaned my head against his shoulder and cried. We stood like that for a few moments, then I brought my head away from his and looked up into his deep, emerald eyes. Suddenly some men ran by us, and I jerked my head around to see that they were running in the direction of Jack and the red haired lady.

I looked back at Andrew and he quickly pulled his arms from around me. "That's where Jack went. Come on!" I quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him behind me. We got there just as the men were...arresting Jack!? I took a step towards him, but my arm was caught by Andrew. I looked back at him, and he shook his head. I stepped back to stand next to him, and we hid by a nearby pole.

I cussed under my breath that I couldn't hear what they were saying. But then I saw the red haired lady step up, say something, then the men looked at each other, look at Jack, nod, frown. Then a tall, black haired man told another to give Jack some money. Jack refused, then all the men left, but one man turned back to Jack and mutter something, and that's when I noticed Jack had lost his jacket and shoes. Looking around, I noticed them laying somewhere over by the rail. I put two and two together and slowly realized something...

Jack's such an idiot. But he wouldn't do that, not Jack. I had to find out what happened. So, as soon as the man was gone I stormed out of my hiding place and walked up to Jack. "Excuse me! What just happened here?"

Jack looked bewildered. He hadn't seen me. He looked from me to the pole, then back at me. "Um...I, that is...she..."

"Spit it out!" I exclaimed. God, it's not that hard to talk. "Why did you take off your shoes and jacket and why did you turn down money, and who the hell was that guy who you were just talking to!?"

"Watch your mouth." Jack said sternly.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Will you please explain to me why you don't have a jacket or shoes, why you didn't gratefully accept money, and who was that gentlemen who was just talking to you?" I said in a very polite tone and with a fake smile.

Jack sighed himself, he knew it was hard not to answer to me. "The girl, Rose, she was going to jump. I took off my coat and shoes and told her if she jumped I would have to jump too. Then she fell, I caught her, and we ended up on deck in a rather embarrassing position."

"Oh, God, Jack. They thought you were raping her didn't they?" I had thought it too, well, I thought that was what they had thought.

"Yep. And they so politely tried to arrest me. Rose, she stepped up and told them, well, she kind of lied. Let's just say she left out the part about her jumping." He said.

"Well, then she _did _leave it out." I said.

"Huh?"

"You said 'let's just say', and that means it's only partly what happened. But she did leave the part about being suicidal. It wasn't only a part, it was the whole." I said, feeling as confused as Jack looked.

Then we both burst into laughter and I smiled at Jack. "I have no clue what I just said."

"Neither do I." He replied, and we both laughed again. I was about to call Andrew over, but he had left. I wondered where he had gone. I would find him and ask him tomorrow. I walked over to the rail. It was the front of the ship. I climbed up to the top rail and held onto the pole.

"Is this where you saved her, Jack?" I asked.

"Yep." he replied, getting his shoes and jacket on.

"Why didn't you take the money? We could've used it, and you know it." I said, looking over my shoulder at him.

"I felt like if I took it, it would be like telling them they were better than us." He said, looking out at the starry horizon. I looked out there too.

That was just like Jack. I knew my brother so well it scared me. He knew me too. Even before mom and dad died we had been close, even though I had been four years younger. Then, when our parents did die, we were all we had, so we became even closer. He cried the night they came and told us I was going to the orphanage the next day. Two days later he broke into the hall where I slept with the other girls. He told me we were running away, and I began to pack my bag, but he told me he had gathered all my clothes in his bag. We climbed down and caught a ride on a ship. We hid in the cargo hold for five days as we sailed to Europe. Then we lived there, getting money from Jack's drawing and other means. Mostly by cons and card games. Now we were going back, to the place we had run away from. But I wasn't scared. I was...excited? I wasn't sure, maybe anxious, but not scared. I was ready to face anything the world was going to throw at me. "Wanna go to sleep?" I asked.

"No." Jack answered.

"Good," I said, smiling, "Neither do I."


End file.
